What Is Statutory Damages?

One of the practical challenges of NCII litigation is proving economic damages — many victims' concrete financial losses are difficult to quantify even when the reputational and emotional harm is severe. Statutory damages address this by allowing courts to award set amounts per violation regardless of provable economic loss. The TAKE IT DOWN Act authorizes substantial statutory damages to give victims meaningful remedies and create strong deterrents against platform non-compliance and perpetrator conduct. Amounts vary by statute and may be multiplied by the number of images or platforms involved.

Key facts about this term

1. Statutory damages do not require proof of financial loss Unlike compensatory damages, statutory damages are available upon proving the violation itself — that your NCII was shared without consent or that a platform failed to remove it within 48 hours.
2. Damages may be multiplied per image and per platform Some statutes allow separate statutory damage awards for each image and each non-compliant platform, which can result in substantial total awards even for individually modest per-image amounts.
3. Willful violations trigger enhanced damages When a platform or perpetrator acts willfully — knowing the conduct is unlawful — courts may award enhanced statutory damages well above the baseline amounts.